20 Ecological Concerns to Restore Our Earth's Health and Balance (UN International Mother Earth Day - April 22, 2022)

                 UN International Mother Earth Day - April 22, 2022 

20 Ecological Concerns to Restore Our Earth's Health and Balance 

"In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed." - Charles Darwin

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

1. Changing Environment, influenced by man, breeds a variety of ailments and diseases. Nature-Man Balance, the key to good health is being threatened.

2. What and Where is the so-called Good Life? The Good Life is shifting with the transformation of agricultural to industrial economy.

3. The Good Life is synonymous to Affluence. People want goods and services beyond what they actually need. Want leads to luxury - to waste.

Global warming causes flood, wildfire, species extinction, desertification, 

and many other consequences. Acrylic painting by AV Rotor..

4. The world’s population is 7.7 billion. Another billion will be added in less than 10 years. Runaway population is the mother of human miseries

5. The proliferation of cities, growth of cities to metropolises and megapolises, each with 10 to 20 million people ensconced in cramped condition. Cities breed marginal communities
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“People, people everywhere, but not a kindred to keep," in condominiums, malls, schools, churches, parks, sharing common lifestyles and socio-economic conditions. They are predisposed to common health problems and vulnerabilities from brownouts to food and fuel shortage, force majeure notwithstanding.

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6. Loss of Natural Environment – loss of productivity, loss of farmlands, and wildlife. Destruction of ecosystems - lakes, rivers, forests, coral reefs, grasslands, etc. Destruction of ecosystems is irreversible.

7. Species are threatened, many are now extinct, narrowing down the range of biodiversity. Human health depends largely on a complex interrelationship of the living world. No place on earth is safe from human abuse. Coral Reef – bastion of terrestrial and marine life, is now in distress.

8. Wildlife shares with our homes, backyards and farms, transmitting deadly diseases like SARS, HIV-AIDS, Mad-Cow, FMD, Ebola, and Bird Flu which can now infect humans, allergies notwithstanding.

9. “Good Life” cradles and nurses obesity and other overweight conditions. Millions of people around the world are obese, with 34% of Americans in the US obese.

10. Global warming stirs climatic disturbance, changes the face of the earth.

11. Globalization packages the major aspects of human activity – trade, commerce, industry, agriculture, the arts, education, science and technology, politics, religion and the like.

Dying Earth wooden chandelier by AV Rotor 2021

12. . Mélange of races - pooling of genes through inter-racial and inter-cultural marriages produces various mixed lines or “mestizos” - Eurasian, Afro-Asian, Afro-American, Amerasian, and the like. Native genes provide resistance to diseases, adverse conditions of the environment. But will this advantage hold on even as the native gene pools are thinned out?

13. Modern medicine is responsible in reducing mortality and increasing longevity. It has also preserved genetically linked abnormalities; it cradles senility related ailments. It made possible the exchange of organs and tissues through transplantation, and soon tissue cloning. It has changed Evolution that is supposed to cull out the unfit and misfits. Man has Darwinism in his hands.

14. The first scientific breakthrough is the splitting of the atom that led to the development of the atomic bomb as the most potent tool of war as evidenced by its destruction at Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and the nuclear reactor which still holds the promise of providing incessant energy to mankind. The second scientific breakthrough – Microchip led to the development of the Internet which “shrunk the world into a village.”

16. The third breakthrough in science, Genetic Engineering, changed our concept of life - and life forms. It has enabled man to tinker with life itself. Revolutionary industries Examples: In vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood, Human Genome Project (HGP or gene mapping), multiple childbirth, post-menopausal childbirth, DNA mapping, etc. Birth of the prototype human robot – pampered, he lives a very dependent life.

17. Genetic Engineering gave rise to Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and Gene Therapy. It has also primed Biological Warfare into a more terrifying threat to mankind and the environment. On the other hand Gene Therapy aims at preventing gene-link diseases even before they are expressed; it has actually revolutionized medicine. More and more countries are banning GMO crops and animals through legislative measures and conservation programs, including protection against “biopiracy”

18. Today’s Green Revolution opened up non-conventional frontiers of production – mariculture, desalination, desert farming, swamp reclamation, aerophonics (rooftop farming), hydroponics, urban farming, organic farming, Green Revolution adapts genetic engineering to produce GMOs and Frankenfoods. We may not be aware, but many of us are eating genetically modified food (GMF or Frankenfood) everyday – meat, milk, chicken, corn, potato and soya products, and the like mainly from the US. Many food additives and adjuncts are harmful, from salitre in longganiza to pesticide residue in fruits and vegetables, aspartame in fruit juice to MSG in noodles, formalin in fish to dioxin in plastics, bromate in bread to sulfite in sugar, antibiotic residue in meat to radiation in milk.

            A return to marginal existence after destroying the natural environment

Hydroponics or soilless culture makes farming feasible in cramped quarters, and it increases effective area of farming.

Aeroponics or Multi-storey farming Vertical Farming Farming in the city on high rise buildings• Post Harvest Technology. is critical to Food Production. PHT bridges production and consumption, farm and market, thus the proliferation of processed goods, supermarket, fast food chains, food irradiation, ready-to-eat packs, etc.

19. Exploration into the depth of the sea and expanse of the Solar System - and beyond. We probe the hadal depth of the ocean. We build cities in space - the Skylab. Soon we will live outside of the confines of our planet earth. Now we aim at conquering another planet, another Solar System to assure continuity of mankind after the demise of the earth.

20. Regional and International Cooperation is key to global cooperation: EU, ASEAN, APEC, CGIAR, ICRISAT, WTO, WHO, UNEP, WFO, FAO, like fighting pandemic diseases – HIV-AIDS, SARS, Dengue, Hepatitis, Bird Flu, etc.

Yeast - the Ubiquitous, Universal Fermenter

 Yeast - the Ubiquitous, Universal Fermenter  

Dr Abe V Rotor

Basi wine making, first day of fermentation. Note evolving gas - carbon dioxide. Wine is produced by anaerobic fermentation.

Bottled basi wine for tourists shops and for export. Basi was among the items carried between the Philippines and Europe via Acapulco, Mexico, during the Galleon Trade era (17th and 18th century) when the Philippines was a colony of Spain, so with Mexico. Old folks attribute the unique fine taste of basi to bubud (homemade yeast).

All kinds of alcoholic drink contain ethanol or ethyl alcohol - the only edible alcohol. Wine is as old as civilization. Serendipity must have led to early wine making techniques, the key being the domestication of  the first microorganism - Saccharomyces, the ubiquitous yeast.

Wine making is converting sugar into ethanol. Ethanol or ethyl alcohol (C2H5OH) is universal in all alcoholic drinks from beer to table wine to liquor, irrespective of generic or brand name. The strength of wine is indicated by proof, which is actually twice that of its percentage content.

Thus, 80 proof is 40 percent ethanol, which is the strength of Vodka, some Brandy, Cognac, Whiskey, and the like. The strength of beer normally ranges from 3 to 5 percent, unless fortified with distilled ethanol to raise it to say, 7 percent. Fortified wine is also common.

Natural table wine such as Basi of the Ilocos region, table wine from grapes and other fruits, normally contain 10 to 12 percent ethanol. Beyond this level, the fermenting yeasts simply die off from the accumulation of ethanol - a biological phenomenon called autotoxicity. It means that the yeasts are killed by their own product, often leaving behind the unfermented sugar. It is this residual sugar that makes a wine sweet - naturally, that is.

Ripe leaves of samat or binuga (Cananga tenarius) is used in making basi. 

Yeast is found in ripening leaves. Here the leaves contain the highest level of sugar which the plant did not use or store. The yeast acts of the sugar and as the leaves fall to the ground, a myriad of microorganisms and animals (from fungi to earthworms and grazing animals) obtain their energy from them. Ultimately the organic matter left behind becomes part of the soil, releases the needed nutrients to the growing plants and those in the next generation.

Yeast is ubiquitous, it is found in flowers, ripening fruits, honeydew, ripening leaves. It comes in different species under the genus Saccharomyces, among them cerevisiae and ellipsoides. There are also other genera such as Brettanomyces and Debaryomyces. Not all yeasts make good wine. But one thing is universal to them. It is Nature's way of converting sugar molecules (C6H12O6) back to their elemental form.  Oxidation often accompanies such process, thus converting ethanol to acetic acid (CH3COOH), which is vinegar. Vinegar actually is a term, vin-egar, which means sour wine.

Natural vinegar is oxidized ethanol, usually with the aid of bacteria, principally Acetobacter and Leuconostoc. The latter forms gelatinous capsule that accumulates into a transparent to white layer we call nata. This is the principle involved in making Nata de coco and nata de piña.

So, even before sugar ferments to vinegar, nata bacteria and other contaminants can spoil wine and vinegar making. A host of organisms are soon attracted such as Drosophila flies, blue bottle flies, wasps, moths and butterflies that feed on the spoiled must. This is happening to unharvested fruits in the field, to remnants of pollination and fertilization, It is true in ponds and lakes where biomass of algae die of algal bloom. Ultimately the product is simply water, evaporating into the air or settling down into a pool or seeping into the ground, and all the organic compounds once part of the living world are back to their elemental components ready to be reassembled into the next living generation. Indeed this a great wonder on how Nature keeps a dynamic balance of the environment called homeostasis.

We can only imagine the ingenuity of wine makers far back during the Epyptian civilization, and in the Orient, the Chinese civilization. I had a chance to visit the ruins of an Assyrian fort outside Tel-Aviv. There, our guide pointing at broken tall jars, said, "The Assyrians were among the best wine makers in the ancient world." The Assyrians were powerful, not even Ramses could conquer them, They had a flourishing economy. Their vineyards can be glimpsed from the vineyards around the place Lakish today. Lakish wine is well-known all over the world, perhaps as famous as the Bordeaux in France.

Without yeast, our world would be a less happy one. Perhaps many organisms wouldn't be around in the first place, including us humans.

Here's a toast to the wonderful yeast. Cheers! Kampai! Mabuhay!~

Part 2  Basi: Preparation of Bubod – Yeast Complex

                                Closeup of bubud, homemade yeast complex.

Here is a list of yeast isolates from plants growing at the SPCQ garden. The author developed the combined process of isolation, multiplication, identification and banking.

Researcher/Plant Source/Wild Yeast

1.Muega, N Basil (Ocimun basilicum), Debaryomyces,
Indonesian Queen - Justicia (Trichosporon genderossa), 

and kamuning Kloerckera
(Murraya pinnaculata)

2.Valdez, M.M Guava (Psidium guajava) Brettanomyces
Powderpuff (Calliandra cergenila) Debaryomyces
Aratilis (Muntigia calabura) Saccharomyces ,
Trichosporon

3.Lacap, DC Duhat (S. cumini) Saccharomyces
Saccharomycodes, Debaryomyces,
Hansenula
Kloeckera
Nematospora

4. Ngo, LM Coconut (Cocos nucifera) Cryptoccocus, 
Hansenula

The isolation of these wild yeasts was made possible using a technique developed in the laboratory of SPUQC. Food Development Center of NFA analyzed and identified the yeast isolates.

The Protocol named after the author is summarized in three parts, as as follows:

Part 1 - Isolation and Identification of Wild Yeasts from Plants

1. Determination of possible sources of wild yeasts. Since yeast is ubiquitous, it is likely found in places where there is a ready supply of sugar. Pollen and nectarines of flowers offer such as an ideal place.

2. Yeast cells are isolated from these floral parts and inoculated in a 15 percent sucrose solution contained in sterilized bottles (3/4 volume). Beer bottles are preferred because their brown or green color protects the isolates from UV radiation.

3. The bottles are plugged with sterilized cotton and are kept in a dark, cool chamber for at least three days.

4. As fermentation takes place, carbon dioxide evolves and in the process creates a CO2-rich chamber in the bottle that serves as an aseptic blanket especially against aerobic bacteria.

5. The culture is then analyzed in the laboratory. Identification of the yeast isolates is done using the standard procedure of FDC. Yeast isolates by Muega et al at SPUQ were obtained using this procedure.

6. The next step is the isolation and culture of the desired yeast isolates for specific purposes. However, the yeast complex as a whole, after proper identification, can be propagated for commercial use.

Part 2 – Propagation and Banking/Storage of the Yeast Isolates

1. The yeast complex is allowed to multiply for another 5 days in the culture bottles. Detection of any contaminant necessitates the discarding the culture, and the procedure is repeated.

2. Rice flour is heated to 100 degrees Celsius and allowed to cool to 50 to 60 degrees Celsius (equivalent to pasteurization). The fermenting sugar solution is the mixed with the flour to make dough. Ground dry ginger is added at the rate of 1 part to 4 parts rice flour. The dough is mashed thoroughly and made into balls, two inches in diameter.

3. The balls are laid on cheesecloth, lined with clean rice straw, and incubated in a wooden box for 5 to 6 days in a dark, enclosed chamber, at 35 to 40 degree Celsius.

4. The balls are air-dried for 3 to 5 days, or until they are dry enough to be pulverized. Direct sunlight may kill the yeast cells. This is now the inoculant that is used in basi fermentation. The rate of inoculation is equivalent to 10 balls to a standard size jar.

5. The powdered inoculant can be stored in an airtight glass container and placed in the vegetable section of a refrigerator. Viable storage time is around 6 months.

Part 3 – Alternative Procedures and Other Applications of the Protocol

1. Substrates may vary, according to the microorganisms to be propagated and banked. Papaya pulp is commonly used for Aspergillus niger as shown in the experiment of Marasigan, 1995.

2. Papaya pulp is also recommended in the preparation of Rhizobium inoculant for soybeans and other legumes (Jacob 1997)

3. Other fruit pulps such as citrus and mango have been tried successfully in the propagation of food-fermenting organisms such as Leuconostoc mesenteroides (nata de coco), Lactobacillus (yogurt), Micrococcus and Pediococcus (patis), and other Halobacteria (bacteria responsible in bagoong making). (8)

4. Other alternatives the protocol can adopt are in the propagation of
cellulose-breaking bacteria such as Trichoderma, and biological pesticide such as Bacillus thuringiensis. 

Part 3 - A visit to an 18th century Basi wine cellar 

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Original basi wine cellar and jars (burnay) date back to the

 18th century across six generations of continuous operation, 

interrupted only by the Second World War for five years. 

 

The cellar attracts researchers, students and tourists for its historical 

significance with the Spanish Galleon Trade, and technology of 

the old folks in making basi and its related products, principally 

vinegar (sukang Iloko).  

By now this jar of basi is 13 years old.  Unless opened, it remains longer 

in aging. The general rule is, the longer wine is aged, the more mellow it 

becomes.  It's not really so.  There are other factors to consider like 

damaged clay cap and leaching.  And there's the basic rule that "only 

good wine mellows with age" (So with man, they add.) 

Crystalline golden color and pleasant wine aroma meet the happy

connoisseur after the desired aging period is reached (at least two 

years in the case of Rotor basi). Fresh and direct from the jar, the 

harvest is bottled, sealed and labelled (as shown below), according

 to customers' specifications intended for an occasion like

 wedding, Christmas, exhibit, and the like. 

House guest picks a fruit wine of his choice,  Fruit wine making 

follows the basic fermentation-aging process in basi making.

There are 20 kinds of fruit wine developed in this cellar from different 

fruits growing locally like macopa, aratiles, duhat and guyabano. 

Stamp commemorating the Galleon Trade. 

Scene of a Galleon trading post in Ciudad de Vigan in Spanish time. 

"The Manila-Acapulco galleon trade* in the 18th century was undertaken by Vigan Chinese mestizo traders who exported local products such as basi, tobacco and abel to Europe and other parts of Asia..." Pia Roces Morato, Thorns and Roses

                                      * Manila-Acapulco galleon trade 1565–1815

                                

Basi jar lying on the sea floor where a galleon ship was wrecked. 

Basi sparked one of the major revolts against Spanish rule by the natives when wine monopoly was declared by the government. This meant virtually taking the industry from the hands of the natives. The short-lived uprising took place in Ilocos, with the final battle fought on both sides of the Bantaoay River which runs through the towns of San Vicente up to San Ildefonso, which are today the major suppliers of Basi principally to tourists in Vigan, UNESCO's world heritage city, and one of the cultural wonders of the world.

                             

Legacy of an Eighteenth-Century Well (Bubon') SV2W Series

                                         Legacy of Old Faithful Bubon'  

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

Composite views of an 18th century well at San Vicente Botanical Garden,

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

Old Faithful Bubon' now a ruin, intermittently flooded in monsoon, damp and dry in summer, speaks of old days in Spanish time, Commonwealth era, World War II, fledging Republic - and now faces postmodernism's abandon and neglect;

Old Faithful Bubon', abode of toads and frogs, trapped in their search for water or mate, or simply fell in, croak in unison or alternate calls, inside and outside of the well,  fill the night air with scary tales of old folks, or children's bedtime stories;  

Old Faithful Bubon', source of water for drinking, for the kitchen and garden through generations, was once fitted with a bamboo lever-on-fulcrum (babatwagan Ilk), an indigenous version of the pulley-and-wheel, later replaced by bucket tied to a rope.  

Old Faithful Bubon', a greenery of algae and mosses, epiphytes and annual plants, makes a unique garden, representing the phylogeny of the plant kingdom on the lower scale, offers a unique study of plant diversity and evolution in an isolated environment;  

Old Faithful Bubon', seat of Darwinian evolution in microcosm; trapped organisms like shrimps, fish and protists, evolve independently, detached from their populations in the open, to become ultimately through time new species, a process called speciation.   

Old Faithful Bubon', indicator of underground water volume and quality by its water level, clarity, smell and taste -  fresh, clean and sweet as old folks would guarantee its potable use, even without undergoing water treatment we do today; 

Old Faithful Bubon', setting of movies and stories, of hideouts and "bahay-bahayan" (housing game), fascinates old and young alike, in tales and fiction, like A Journey to the Center of the Earth, by Jules Verne, and prospective treasure-hunting stories; 

Old Faithful Bubon', once its crystal-clear water reflected the blue sky, flying birds, and nearby tree tops, in a perfect scenery of a pristine landscape, with a young boy seated on its rim, looking downward, his face reflecting lofty dreams and thoughts deep and far beyond. 

Old Faithful Bubon', three generations later, fell into obsolescence, losing aesthetics and function, replaced by modern water system; its water no longer potable due to pollution generated by industrialization, and affluent living;   

Old  Faithful Bubon', now a ruin, repository of fragments of history and technology, anecdotes and legends, ancestral socio-economics, now an attraction to tourists, among them an old pilgrim who once sat at its rim dreaming of the world on its water. ~

Bioethics and Environment (International Congress on Bioethics, A Reaction)

Bioethics and Environment 

 International Congress on Bioethics*: A Reaction

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog**

  

Macli-ing, a staunch protector of ancestral lands in Kalinga-Apayao; award on river conservation, a tribute. 

It is a special privilege to be a member of the panel of reactors in this international congress on bioethics. I am specially honored to react on the paper presented by a distinguished expert, Dr. Michael (Cheng-tak) Tai, a topic which deals with the greatest revolution that has ever gripped the world - a revolution which has no boundaries – physical, political, religious, cultural and economic – Environmental Revolution.

Environmental revolution has actually started with the age of industrialization, and it will take a very long time and a very complex process to be able to settle it. Environmental revolution does not pit man against nature, as it had been since the dawn of mankind. It is not the conventional revolution of society where man is pitted against man, or nation against nation for political reasons. It is not religious war. It is not a war of ideologies.

For the first time we humans must work together to preserve nature for the very survival of our species, and for the sake of saving Mother Earth, our only home and spaceship which carries all of us in our journey into the perilous unknown universe. It is a war we cannot afford to lose because it also spells the survival of the whole living world.

Let me state the some environmental concerns related to the topic of Dr. Tai’s paper, and relate them with current situations, understanding and outlook.

There are conflicting views of change.

Scientific knowledge and government policies often disagree and run into conflict at each other. Economics and ecology, though they share a common root word and foundation, are strange bedfellows, so to speak.

Yet these entities support common goals geared toward change. Change has to be viewed more than the measures of GNP, ROI, currency exchange rate, balance of trade, and the like, and should not only be confined to Human Development Indices, such as literacy rate, mortality rate and population density.

While these are considered immediate parameters mainly to benefit man and his society, certain questions on sustainability and environmental preservation are left unanswered. How do we ensure future generations. We feel more and more wary about the term progress. We ask ourselves what is “progress without conscience?” And whose development? What is the relationship between progress with posterity?

I remember the late Dr. Dioscorro Umali, national scientist, who addressed the graduating class of UP Diliman in 1992 with this moving statement, “Be the heroes we never were.” The essence of his speech is that the previous - and especially the present generation - have left little for the next generations to inherit. “We have not only abused the bounties of Nature,” he said, “we have destroyed her as well. The hero concept of Dr. Umali revolutionizes traditional and conventional definition of a hero. He is more than a nationalist, an economist, or an ideologist as we know, but a hero for Mother Earth, borrowing the term of Time Magazine.

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Today, rather than defending himself against nature, man realized, he needed to defend nature against himself.

- AV Rotor, Light from the Old Arch

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Who are heroes for Mother Earth?

Environmental movements have roots traced to ancient cultures as can be gleamed from our own centuries old Ifugao Rice Terraces. Throughout history as civilizations grew and spread the environment became a sacrificial lamb. Such euphoric phrases “all roads leading to Rome,” “the beauty that glory that was Greece, the grandeur that was Rome,” “the sun never sets on English soil,” and the eight wonders of the world may reflect man’s ultimate achievements, yet all these were ephemeral in the mist of time in man’s dreams. In the end, it was nature that took them from the hands of man. The loss of natural environments has lead to the decline of civilizations and their subsequent demise.

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Revival of environmental awareness came at the heels of the Renaissance. In the 12th century St. Francis of Assisi brought a new concept of devotion. Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and all the creatures on Earth our friends, laid down the foundation of naturalism in the Christian church reviving much of the Aristotelian naturalism. It is fitting that St. Francis of Assissi is regarded as the father of ecology.
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Time Magazine came up with a list of heroes for Planet Earth, among them are naturalist philosophers or conservationist philosophers are Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Aldo Leopold, and Rachel Carson.

• Ralph Waldo Emerson claimed that “behind nature, throughout nature, spirit is present.”



• Henry David Thoreau spoke of the side of “truth in nature and wilderness over the deceits of civilization.”

• Muir believed that “wilderness mirrors divinity, nourishes humanity, and vivifies the spirit.”

• Leopold was behind the development of policies in wilderness and game management.

“Wilderness is the raw material out of which man has hammered the artifact called civilization.”


• Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, which dramatized the potential dangers of pesticides to food,
wildlife, and humans causing wide spread damage to the ecosystem.

• Chico Mendes was a front liner in environmental conservation. He lost his life defending the concept of “extractive reserves” to conserve the Brazilian Rainforest that provided livelihood of the people against the conversion of the forest into ranches and plantations.

Other heroes of planet Earth cited by Time include
• Barbara Ward, author of Only One Earth which shaped the UN environmental conference.

• Ernest Schumacher who did not believe in endless growth, mega-companies and endless
consumption, author of Small is Beautiful, a best seller since the sixties.

• Jacques-Yves Cousteau, oceanographer who espoused the need to arrest the declining health of the oceans.

In the Philippines, Macli-ing, a staunch protector of ancestral lands in Kalinga-Apayao from the encroachment of the mammoth Upper Chico River dam, was gunned down allegedly to silence him. All aver the world there are the likes of Macli-ing, like Chico Mendes, and Ken Saro-Wiwa, a leader from the Ogoni tribe, and many more who, we may compare to the Unknown Soldier, but this time a soldier in defense of nature.

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We must be prudent in endorsing people for their contributions to the environment until parameters are clearly set, and that we should allow time to make the final judgment. A case in point is DDT, the miracle pesticide against malaria in the forties and fifties. For this the discoverer received the Nobel Award. But in the following years it was discovered that DDT is a poison that persists in the food chain, making it harmful to living organisms and deleterious to human health. AVR
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People have varying opinions when defining Environmental Philosophy.

There are those who believe that nature shall serve humanity. On the other hand there are those who believe that humanity shall serve nature. And there are those who say, it is “something in between”.

Nature, growth, and progress are concepts that we all use, but which we seldom define either in discussion or to ourselves. We speak about environmental ethics, environmental philosophy, eco-philosophy, and so on, but what do we put into these concepts? We seldom make them explicit or draw conclusions from them. “Trying to answer these philosophical questions does not, of course, in itself solve any environmental problems,” say ecologists Enger and Smith, “but on the other hand it is questionable whether we can solve these problems without discussing them on a philosophical level.”

It is then important to view environmental philosophy with ethics and morals. Ethics is a branch of philosophy that seeks to define fundamentally what is right and what is wrong, regardless of cultural differences. Morals differ somewhat from ethics because morals reflects the predominant feelings of a culture about ethical issues.

How do we illustrate this? A student of mine asked me this question, “Is it a sin to cut a tree?” This question touches ethics and morals, above social and economic considerations. It also pertains to legislation, such as whether we should advocate total log ban or selective logging. It even boils down to analyzing a syndrome known as “tragedy of the commons.” Let us analyze it this way.

a. The naturalistic concept that trees are the source of life is losing its essence as communities grow, and as people tend to move and live in urban places. It is a concept that is being taken for granted even as people become learned. Yet since evolutionary time plants have been providing the basic needs of man – food, clothing, shelter, medicine and energy. The harvesting of plants and their products has been part of human sustenance, as such they must be used properly. This ethnic view was also the basis of early agriculture. It is the key to a sustainable relationship between man and nature that lasted for aeons of time.

b. Like Gold Rush, new lands became the target of economic exploitation, as the frontiers were pushed to the limit. New lands were placed under agriculture, which included our own Mindanao. Accessibility to forests and the wildlife became more and more feasible. Original forests were replaced with ranches, and plantations. Economics was the name of the game. In spurred the second green revolution, and agriculture dominated the trade and industry of the world. It eroded the ethnic relationship between man and nature. Beliefs about the tree spirit, forest deities (Maria Makiling), and nature worships have become mere superstitions and legends relegated to books and comics.

c. The final blow followed – industrialization. It is not only food that preoccupied man. Want over need incessantly drives man to convert lands into golf courses, human settlements, industrial sites, and all kinds of infrastructures. Imagine how easy, and how short a time it takes to destroy a whole forest which nature built for hundreds if not thousands of years, with giant machines of today. It is said that by the time we finish reading a paragraph of average length, three hectares of forest shall have been destroyed.

d. Post-modernism – a paradox of living tomorrow as we grope at the forefront of progressive innovation which usually means “violating traditional norms or ideas in all fields if human concern,” quoting Dr. Florentino Hornedo. “The human being who has abandoned his essence, nature and origin has also given up purpose and aim of existence. Life then becomes a “free play” of what forces may come which construct existence. Neither is there personhood or self to be ethically responsible for one’s action.”

I use this statement to raise questions of accountability of our actions, individually or by group. A businessman who is armed with a franchise to cut down a forest is understood to have accepted the attendant responsibility stipulated in the contract, which may include provisions in selective logging and replanting. But these are far from sufficient in providing the vital safety net of protecting the community and the environment.

I go back to the question, “Is it a sin to cut a tree?” This time the concept of the action has far reaching consequences based on the above-mentioned premises. I would return the question with reference to actual incidents.

• Who is responsible for the Ormoc City (Southern Leyte) tragedy caused by mudslide from a logged watershed? In this incident hundreds of residents were killed and millions of pesos were lost.

• The tragedy was repeated ten years after but on a lesser scale. As the perpetrators in the first tragedy have remained scot-free, so with those in the second tragedy.

• Five years have passed since the Real, Quezon, landslide that was similarly caused by massive illegal logging. What actions have government and society done?

• The Marinduque case of poisoning rivers and coastlines with mine tailings, which as a result, continue to destroy the ecosystem and deprive thousands of fisher folks from their livelihood. To date after twenty years the issue remains unsolved.

• Deserts continue to expand as a result of human activities. So with siltation of rivers and lake, shortening their usefulness and life span.

• Our Pantabangan dam, Ambuklao dam, and Binga dam, are heavily silted as a result of cutting down trees on their watershed. It is indeed a waste.

• All over the world we find similar cases: the shrinking of the Aral Sea in Russia, desertification, and marginalization of farmlands.

• The worst result in the endangerment of natural habitats and species, leading to irreversible loss of ecosystems and biodiversity.

All these lead us to re-examine our values. It challenges to look deeper into a paradigm of salvation through the regard we have on our environment.

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There are few frontiers of production left today. We have virtually pushed back the sea and leveled off the mountain. Prime lands have all been taken, swamps have been drained, and even deserts are being reclaimed. But as we continue to explore the marginal edges of these frontiers the more we are confronted with high cost of production that is levied on the consumer, and more importantly, the danger of destroying the fragile environment. AVR
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Ecological Paradigm (Why is Mother Earth complaining?)

The prolificacy of the human species sans war and pestilence, plus growing affluence of our society led to a population explosion which doubled in less than fifty years. We are now over six billion. This paradigm, master and subject have joined hands to exploit the earth’s finite resources. Our best economists may not be good housekeepers of Nature. While the aim is directed at the Good Life, they have unwittingly reduced the very foundation of that good life – the productivity and beauty of Mother Earth.

Ecological paradigm endorses an ecocentric approach where all forms of life and non-life are important to human life. Spirituality points out to a unitive force: the sacredness of everything. God’s divinity flows in everything. There is inte1gration in the universe. And we are part of that integration, exceedingly small as we are, notwithstanding.

Under ecological paradigm of salvation, the man responsible in the destruction of the environment leading to loss of lives and properties should be held accountable for it. Salvation does not come easy in this particular case, because he is not only responsible for the actual loss, but in healing nature back to health, so to speak. He cannot just get away with his ill-gotten wealth, he has to use it – among other resources - to amend his wrong doings.

Business versus Environment.

The environment and the economy need not be viewed as opposites. It is possible to have a healthy environment and a healthy economy at the same time. More and more businesses have begun adopting this concept as a business philosophy. People behind business organizations are becoming more aware of the ethical decisions they face, and their responsibility for their consequences.

A multi-national corporation, responding to the provisions of GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), CERES (Coalition of Environmental Responsible Economies), UNEP (United Nations Environmental Program), came up with the following thrusts:

• Restore and preserve the environment
• Reduce waste and pollution
• Education of the public on environmental conservation
• Work with government for sound and responsible environmental program
• Assess impact of business on the environment and communities.

More and more businesses are looking at this model with favor.
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Industrialization and urbanization are akin to each other. Industrial growth spurred the building of cities all over the world. Today there are as many people living in cities as those living the rural places. A mega-city like Tokyo has a population of 15 million people. We are 10 million in Metro Manila. Cities are fragile environments. Cities are more prone to epidemics such as the bubonic plague that killed one-third of the population of Europe. Now we are confronted with HIV-AID, SARs, meningo cochcimia – and the dreaded Avian flu which hovers as the next human pandemic disease. AVR
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Antarctica, World Park.

One of the few places on earth unexploited by humans is Antarctica. Not now, not until recently. With the Antarctic Treaty of 1991 declares that “Antarctica shall be open to all nations to conduct scientific or other peaceful activities there,” seven countries have already laid overlapping claims on the continent, which comprises one-tenth of the world’s total land area. Thousands of tourists are now visiting Antarctica every year. Scientific research is economically motivated, such as oil exploration, with geopolitical or military objectives in mind. Earlier – in the 1970s New Zealand proposed designating an Antarctica World Park, making it an international wilderness area. On the ecological point of view, Antarctica is fragile with simple and short food chains that support few organisms such as the penguin, whales, shrimp-like krill. Any slight disturbance is likely to upset the delicate balance. We have already caused the growing hole of the ozone layer above Antarctica through unabated release of CFCs , and fossil-fuel combustion worldwide.

Would humanity be better served by developing the natural resources of Antarctica than turning it into a world park and preserve its ecological balance? We also ask the same question to areas similar to Antarctica, such as the pristine wildlife of Canada, Greenland, the Yukon Territories, the unexplored islands of the Pacific, and main Amazon Basin.

Kyoto Protocol on Greenhouse Gases.

On December 10, 1997, 160 nations reached agreement in Kyoto, Japan, to limit emission of CO2 and other gases in order to arrest Greenhouse Effect threatening the whole world. But not all countries, signed the treaty, among them the US and Australia. Actually the Kyoto Protocol is not new. In 1992, some 170 countries ratified a similar treaty reducing emission of gases to the level of 1990 by 2000, but this did not yield the desired result.

Ecology and Stock Exchange.

In 2000, Earth Sanctuaries was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, making it the world’s first conservation company to go public. We know that conservation efforts have been conventionally under foundations and government projects. But this time this intriguing approach to conserving the environment has raised as lot of questions. Does the market place really have a role in habitat preservation? Is this approach really conserving natural ecosystem or just creating large zoos? Would we rather save and give our children good education that helps rescue an endangered animal? Indeed the conflict between maximizing profits and conservation raises ethical issues.

Ecology advertising.

In the supermarket we find tags, organically grown, environment-friendly, eco-safe, environmentally safe, children-safe, ozone-friend, and so on. But are these claims true? Consider the following:

• Look for the three-phase symbol of recycling – three interacting arrows to form a triangle.
• When buying a refrigerator or aircoinditioner get the one that is freon-free, ozone friendly. Be sure the purchase is covered by company guarantee.
• Producers of food claimed to be safe, such as organically grown, must be able to show a reliable track record. It is good to trace the source of food that we eat, from beginning with production to processing, and ultimately to the dining table.
• Even materials claimed to be biodegradable, photo-degradable, and the like, may not be readily converted into safe materials. As a general rule, save money from “over-packaged” commodities, and you save the environment as well. Don’t be misled by package advertising, how attractive it may appear.

*Environmental Ethics: Human Life and the Environment, December 5-7, 2005

**Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

References

Rotor AV (2004) The Living with Nature Handbook, UST 207 pp
Rotor AV (2001) Light from the Old Arch, UST, 215 pp
Enger ED and BF Smith (1992) Environmental Science: A Study on Interrelationship, McGraw NY 486 pp
Scherff JS et al (1991) The Mother Earth Handbook: What you need to know and do – at home, in your community, and through your church – to help heal our planet now, Continuum 320 pp

AgroEcology for the Ilocos Region

Convergence: 8-Program Proposal

AgroEcology for the Ilocos Region

Dr Abe V Rotor  

Living with Nature - School on Blog

1. Coastal Greening
Coconut and orchard trees, with cover crops 

 Mainly coconut planting on multiple rows, quincunx, mixed with halophytic 

       (salt-loving and salt-resistant) trees

·     Mangroves (3 genera) along intertidal zone and estuary

·     Serves as windbreak, buffer against tidal wave; filters salty breeze and sand

            and dust storm

·     Source of food, feed, fuel, local industry

·     Stabilizes shifting sand dunes, establishes foothold for other plants 

2. Roadside and Highway Greening with Acacia, Gmelina, mahogany, other forest trees

·       Provides aesthetics and shade

·       Ripraps road shoulders

·       Serves as windbreak and natural sun visor

·       Extends life of infrastructure

·       Source of wood, fuel, food, feeds 

3. Backyard Green Revolution
Vegetables (leafy, root, fruit and seed vegetables)

        Direct source of fresh food

·       Integrates cleanliness, sanitation, recycling, savings, exercise, family unity, 

            and the like

·       Bahay Kubo model (all vegetables)

·       Herbal-ornamental-vegetable combination

·       Orchard Model

·       Homelot (semi commercial, combination of crops, animals and/or fish)

4. Riverbank Greening
Kamachile, aroma, mimosa, ipil-ipil (Trees with deep and spreading roots)

        Provides natural riprap, shade and natural fertilizer

·       Prevents cutbank erosion, traps sand, silt and clay, thus extends life of river

·       Improves biological life of river, increase catch, enhances biodiversity

·       Source of firewood, food and feeds

5. Fence Greening
Mainly orchard trees

        Serves as “borrowed landscape”, adds aesthetics to home and surroundings

·       Provides shade, creates favorable mini-climate for the home and community

·       Source of food, medicine, feeds, other materials

·       Serves as windbreak, noise buffer, improves air quality

·       Serves as local wildlife sanctuary

6. Mudflat Reclamation
Mangrove species (Rhizophora Ceriops, Brugiera, Avecinia)  Mangrove arrests shifting mudflat, helps delta formation
· Mangrove forest stabilizes intertidal zone, serves as buffer against tidal wave 

      and tsunami 
· Improves water navigation
· Creates marine sanctuary 
· Source of timber, firewood and other materials
· Supplies valuable detritus (organic fertilizer), natural food of marine life

7. Watershed Rehabilitation
Mainly forest trees with orchard trees,
simulated tropical rainforest (multi-storey)· Reforestation restores green cover that enhances the integrity of watershed
· Minimizes erosion and siltation, restores natural soil fertility 
· Protects waterfalls, springs, rivers and lakes, 
· Increases stored water supply (ground water and aquifers)
· Source of timber, firewood, other materials
· Creates/restores wildlife sanctuary, increases biodiversity
· Prevents forest and brush fire

8. Woodland Hedgerow

Two models of woodland hedgerows 

(Acknowledgement: Internet)

Mixed orchard and forest trees with shrubs (2- or 3-storey) 

· European model of hedge forest, broad strip of woodland/forest separating fields
· Serves as wildlife sanctuary
· Sanctuary of biological agents that control pest
· Conserves water, prevents erosion and siltation
· Increases organic matter supply, reduces oxidation of organic matter
· Source of firewood, timber, other materials
· Serves as recreation area, adds aesthetics
· Creates mini-climate, serves as buffer zone

Fruits with Economic Potential in the Ilocos Region

Of the 200 kinds of fruits in the Philippines, 40 to 50 species are grown to some extent for their edible fruits and other uses.The rest are still found in the wild, or if already domesticated are not given significant attention.

Convergence 8 encourages in the propagation/production of indigenous fruit trees. Evaluation of these species is based on these characteristics.
· Nutritional value
· Domestic and export potential
· Diversity of Uses
· Potentials for primary and secondary processing
· High yield and good income
· Potential for creating new employment
· Ecological significance
· Medicinal and industrial uses as well

Here is a list of potential fruits in the Ilocos Region. There are many others of minor importance.
Coconut Balimbing Kamias Mango Cashew Chico Duhat Cacao Guava Atis Guyabano Suha Nangka Rimas Kamansi Caramay Santol Siniguelas Tamarind Camuyao Tiessa Mabolo  Makopa Caimito Kamachile Bignay Sapote Anonang
Battocanag Tampoy Manzanitas Avocado Coffee Achuete Tea Betel nut

Pomegranate

Firewood Farming (Green Energy)·For more than a third of the world’s population, the real energy crisis is a daily scramble to find wood to cook meals. In the Third World 90 percent of the people depend on firewood. 

· Firewood scarcity is most acute in arid and semi arid regions, but is now felt in logged over areas and growing urban centers. Price of firewood has increased as much as the price of fossil fuels.

· In the sixties and seventies the Philippines introduced giant ipil-ipil, but monocropping resulted in fatal insect infestation. There is a need of systematic management in the culture of wood crops.

· Here is a list of firewood crops known to be adapted in the Ilocos region. Many of these are also valuable for timber and construction materials.
Acacia (Samanea saman and Acacia auriculiformis)
Agoho (Casuarina equisitifolia)
Madre de cacao or kakawate (Gliricidia sepium)
Talisay (Terminalia catappa)
Katuray (Sesbania grandiflora)
Mangroves (Rhizophora, Brugiera, Avicennia)
Bamboo (Bambusa spp.)
Gmelina (G. arborea)
Alagao (Trema odorata)
Eucalyptus (E. globulus, E. grandis)
Bitaog (Callophyllum innophylum)
Kamachile (Pithecolobium dulce)
Golden shower (Cassia fistula)
Ipil-ipil (Leucaena leucacephala or L. glauca)
Aratiles (Muntingia calabura)
Duhat (Syzygium cumini)
Albizia or kariskis (A. lebbekoides)
Aroma or candaroma (Acacia farnesiana)
Firetree (Delonix regia)

There are many others that include kapok, mulberry, alokong, ilang-ilang, and lanute. Firewood also comes from shrubs like pandakaki or busbusilac, pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) and other plant residues (e.g. dried coconut palm, tobacco stalk). All over the world, there are 1,200 firewood species listed, with 700 given top ranking.

Greening with Malunggay and Kakawate through Stem Cuttings       

Malunggay is the most nutritious local vegetable (leaves and fruits)
Kakawate is the most versatile wood crop (renewable firewood, construction material for dwelling and fence)

· Easy to propagate through stem cuttings
· Same soil (well-drained) and climatic requirements (onset of the rainy season)
· Procedure is basically the same. 

Available POTs for Convergence 8
Packages of Technology and References
Hillyland Farming Systems in the Philippines
Farm systems and Soil Resources Institute, UPLB 1986

KABASAKA: A program to increase income of rainfed rice farmers, PCARRD, 1979

The Philippines Recommends: Corn, Mango, Pineapple, Grapes, Coffee, Cacao, Ginger, Mungo, Water Impounding, Agroforestry, Bamboo, Production of Fast Growing Hardwoods, Irrigation Management, PCARRD (1970-80)

Success Stories of Farmer-Managed Coconut-Based Farming Systems
(Vols. 1 & 2) PCARRD, 1991; Measuring the Economic Viability of Agricultural Technologies, PCARRD 1991; Technology Transfer for Sustainable Development; DOST-PCARRD-PCAMRD 1989

Firewood Crops – Shrub and Tree Species for Energy Production
National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC 1980

Promising Fruits of the Philippines – R.E. Carbonel (UPLB)

Technology! (Copra Dryer, Banana Rejects for Cattle, Multi-purpose Farm Pond, Ipil-ipil Meal, Coco Timber, Corn and Ipil-ipil Farming, Backyard Fattening of Cattle, Rice-fish Culture), PCARRD (1970-1990)

Extension Bulletin of Food and Fertilizer Technology Center ASPAC (100 volumes of varied topics) 1960 to 2000

Plants of the Philippines (1971) – UP Diliman; Useful Plants of the Philippines (3 volumes, original 1938)) by William H. Brown

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM, 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday Saemaul Undong (New Community Movement in South Korea) FFTC 1970

Note: Convergence 8 Program was presented in a briefing with Congressman Salacnib Baterina, Ist District of Ilocos Sur some years ago. I am posting the outline of the proposed program after it was recently presented in a lecture in the academe. It may also serve as reference for development planners. ~